


Gallows Speech

by ArtemisRae



Series: Alphabet Challenge [46]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-22
Updated: 2010-08-22
Packaged: 2017-10-21 15:30:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/226734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtemisRae/pseuds/ArtemisRae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roy, worrying about losing Fullmetal, doesn't realize he's already gone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gallows Speech

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a second Alphabet Challenge at my LJ, where I'm given a prompt for ever letter in the alphabet. My prompt for this fic was "neurasthenia". Hey, remember [ this fic](http://artemisrae.livejournal.com/86377.html) from last years set? This is a prequel to that, and the universe is still as dense and weird as it was then! Feel free to read into this any way you want.

* * *

  
_Neurasthenia_  
-noun  
1\. an obsolete technical term for a neurosis characterized by extreme lassitude and inability to cope with any but the most trivial tasks  


* * *

In hindsight, he wished more than anything that his last words to Edward hadn’t been out of anger.

It had all started when Ed had put in a request to transfer somewhere – _anywhere_ but Central. Roy had refused, and been more than a little ashamed to do so. As much as he’d wanted to give Ed what he wanted, Roy needed him in Central. There were still too many people he couldn’t trust, and every day was a new battle. Roy needed every ally he had as close to him as he could manage.

And Ed owed him. That was just a fact of his life; Roy had given Fullmetal a long leash when he’d been looking to restore himself and his brother, and now that Al was hale Roy needed Ed to help secure his power in Central.

Instead of the fight he’d been expecting, Fullmetal had… wilted. He’d lost interest in his research, avoided his appointments with Roy, and refused more than once to even answer the door the couple of times that Roy had sent someone over there to drag him into the office _by his ponytail_ , if they had to.

It’s when he goes over himself that everything goes to hell.

First of all, Ed looks terrible – pale, and cloudy-eyed, as if Roy had roused him from bed at three in the afternoon. Second of all, Roy is operating in a strange, desperate sort of high-level fury: _Ed can’t do this to him. He can’t lose Fullmetal. Not now._

He can’t even call it an argument. He shouts a bit before Ed raises his eyes, looks Roy square in the face, and tells Roy that he’s going back to bed.

It takes Roy an hour to work through the shock; by the time he charges back into the apartment to demand an explanation, Ed is gone.


End file.
